012 – Top 5 Reasons to Avoid the Glitter of Property Exhibitions and Local Agents.

It’s the beautiful brochures, scaled models, and alleged preferential pricing for getting in early and exchanging in the room on the day. It all sounds great, but what are the cautions and drawbacks?

From my 25 years of going to property exhibitions,

Here are the top 5 reasons to stay away from the glitz and glamour.

1. Urgency is always built into their sales pitch: after the weekend’s over, the sales people move on to new development. In fact they probably didn’t put much more than a cursory glance into the area. Whereas we live in those areas, we invest in those areas, we manage properties in these areas.

2. The Cashflow Worksheets aren’t very accurate: they miss so many expenses and risks it’s sometimes embarrassing.

3. Often the developers will be testing the Phase 1 pricing and if it's not a hit then pricing drops. So you could end up with a more expensive plot than the investors after you.

4. Discounts offered to agents who buy bulk like us, are often missing so you're paying full price and the agents make considerable commissions for each property. 

5. Exhibitions often have a limited range of mixed plots available, which means the plot you want is available just not at the exhibition.

Ok, let's not beat up on exhibitions too much, they do serve their purpose. So what are the benefits we can offer, over and above the exhibitions?

For many UK developers we work with, we have open price lists with ALL plots; it's the same price list as their internal salespeople use, so you get to choose from all plots.

We often sell 5–20 plots per phase, so we negotiate individually for plots but as part of a larger and in bulk purchase for added discount, which we pass onto you. 

As part of the bulk purchase, we can often offer preferential terms such as timed deposit payments, interest on deposits, or perhaps even rent guarantees or furniture packs.

Unlike exhibitions, which are 'decision urgency' based, you can take the time you need to choose and research your preferred plot.

And perhaps the most important is that we provide a full 2 Year Cash Flow Worksheet for all expenses and income and metrics for the best decision with the data available. You can also personalise this worksheet based on your situation.

You'll also benefit from having the time to ask your solicitor questions and have things explained in a non-rushed environment. Of course, we're always on hand to help out and clarify.

We're not saying exhibitions don't work, they can, often in fact, we piggyback on exhibitions and support their sales, but instead giving you the choice to take your time, choose the best plot and have your solicitor take the time to check everything, as well as benefiting from the best price and plot combination.

Seen a development at an exhibition? Why not challenge us to see if we have the same or better price, a bigger plot choice, a less urgent process, or maybe a property that we feel would be better suited to your needs? Challenge us!

Live with passion,
Brett